Vincent Mancini
Vincenzo "Vincent" Mancini, later Don Vincent Corleone, was the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone and Lucy Mancini. Vincenzo succeeded Michael Corleone as boss of the Corleone crime family.and his biogical father is Sonny Santino Corleone Biography Early years Vincent was the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone and Lucy Mancini who was born after Sonny's death. During his childhood he lived with his mother in Arizona, and later Newark, New Jersey, before moving back to New York City.The Godfather Part III screenplay He was the grandson of Jimmy Mancini, a longtime member of the Corleone crime family. Although he was very close to his aunt, Connie, he was never treated as a real member of the Corleone family and wasn't given access to the family's criminal empire. He was known as a frequenter at the Palazzo Azzurro casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He also ran a nightclub in Manhattan. Rivalry with Joey Zasa Joey Zasa, who headed the Corleone family in New York, offered Vincent a position in the muscle end of his family. Vincent accepted and began working for Zasa as an enforcer, despite Michael's offer to give him a job in the legitimate world. He and Zasa swiftly became enemies, particularly due to Zasa's barely masked disdain for Michael and the old ways. Despite this, Vincent endeared himself to his uncle in 1979 by trying to protect him from rival mafiosi. The aging Don took the hot-headed, irrational, and violent young man under his wing in an effort to redeem both Vincent and himself. Vincent frequently asked Michael if he wanted to get rid of Zasa to the point of annoyance. After Michael suffered a stroke, Vincent carried out a successful murder of Zasa and his crew. Rise in the family Vincent saved Michael from an assassination attempt orchestrated by Zasa. With his experience on the streets, he got suspicious when Zasa and Don Altobello abruptly left the conference room, and immediately sensed a hit was underway when he felt it vibrate from the helicopter. Later that night, Michael suffered a severe diabetic stroke and was sent to the hospital. Believing that Zasa would likely take another run at Michael, Vincent got clearance from Connie to take out Zasa, and personally killed him at a street festival in Little Italy, Manhattan. This greatly angered Michael, even though Vincent used the same logic that Michael used to justify killing Virgil Sollozzo 34 years earlier. Vincent's irrepressible violent streak often angered Michael, but not nearly as much as his burgeoning romance with Michael's daughter (and Vincent's cousin) Mary. Remembering how his enemies inadvertently killed his first wife, Apollonia, Michael feared Mary would be endangered the deeper Vincent became involved in Corleone family business. This did, however, become useful to Michael, when he realized that Altobello had turned against him. Vincent was to ask Altobello's help in running away with Mary and starting his own family. After carefully avoiding Altobello's trap by refusing to hurt Michael himself, Vincent was introduced to the mastermind behind Michael's recent troubles, Don Licio Lucchesi. The new Don Despite their personal differences, Michael appointed Vincent the new Don and head of the Corleone family in 1980, allowing him to change his name to Vincent Corleone. In return for being elevated, Vincent had to end his relationship with Mary. His time spent with Michael had made him into a new man--much wiser, patient, and aware of his status as the new Don. However, he still had a violent streak, as evidenced in his first act as Don--with Michael's tacit blessing, he ordered the deaths of Gilday, Keinszig and Lucchesi in one mass slaughter. The same night the romance ended, however, Mary was killed in an assassination attempt on Michael. Vincent quickly and ruthlessly killed the assassin responsible, Mosca. With a heavy heart, Vincent then began his tenure as Don Corleone. Personality and traits Vincent was rash and arrogant by nature, a trait he inherited from his father Sonny. But under Michael's tutelage he matured into a pragmatic, even ruthless leader. Despite these negative qualities, he was also a loving family man, determined to ensure the survival of those he loved, and was incredibly close to his aunt Connie. The Godfather Part IV Vincent's story following the events of Part III is not exactly known. However, according to Francis Ford Coppola on The Godfather Part III's DVD commentary, he and Mario Puzo had imagined a fourth film to the Godfather saga, one storyline of which would encompass Vincent's reign as the head of the Corleone family. Contrary to his predecessors, Vincent was to have heavily involved the family in the drug trade, transforming the family into a drug cartel and driving the Corleones back into corruption and eventual decline. Vincent would also be married to Grace Hamilton and have a child named after the late Vito Corleone, and Vincent's story would have ended with him being hunted down and killed in a police shootout in a manner similar to Pablo Escobar's death by the Search Bloc, bringing about the end of the Corleone family once and for all. This proposed film, titled The Godfather Part IV or The Godfather: The Final Part, would also once again have had flashbacks of Vito during his early years as Don, exploring the childhood days of Sonny, Fredo, Michael, and Connie, when they discover exactly the nature of their father's business. These flashbacks would have also portrayed the early days of Tom Hagen, Johnny Fontane, Luca Brasi and other Corleone associates as they are introduced into the family, as well as Vito's first meeting and initial acquaintance with Hyman Roth. Several actors, including Ray Liotta, Luis Guzman, Leonardo DiCaprio and Garcia himself had all expressed interest in doing the film. According to Coppola, Puzo had composed a rough draft alternating between Vincent's reign as boss (1980-1990s) and the "Happy Years" of the Corleone family (ca. 1926-1939), in a structure similar to The Godfather Part II. However, since Mario Puzo died in 1999 while the film was still in the early stages of development, the project has since been abandoned and will not be greenlighted for production. Behind the scenes *Vincent wasn't mentioned in Mario Puzo's original novel, which stated that Lucy wasn't pregnant. However, it should be noted that illegitimacy was strongly disapproved of during Sonny and Lucy's time. *According to Coppola, Vincent Mancini was supposed to be seen as an amalgamation of all the five Corleone men. Coppola described Vincent as having Vito's cunning, Michael's ruthlessness, Fredo's sensitivity, Sonny's fiery temper and Tom Hagen's unquestioned loyalty. *In an earlier draft of the screenplay Vincent takes over Salvatore Tessio's old regime in Brooklyn. Notes and references Mancini, Vincent Mancini, Vincent Mancini, Vincent Mancini, Vincent